No more changes for Rebel mascot


The mustachioed mascot at Hays High School looks like heโ€™s hopping mad.

col jack hays rebel mascot
Illustration by Hays Free Press

If so, heโ€™s got his reasons. First, โ€œColonel Jackโ€ lost his belt buckle bearing the Stars and Bars. Then the carpetbaggers commandeered his pistols, replacing
them with a couple of harmless flags.

At least no oneโ€™s tried to strip him of his uniform. Might there be a pair of long johns beneath those Confederate grays?

In the past few weeks, a rebel yell has been raised to protect Colonel Jack from any further insult. Hays High School alumni and athletic supporters are coming together to save their mascot from the dustbin of history, much like the fate of actual Rebels who fought during the Civil War.

โ€œDonโ€™t take the rebel away!โ€ implores one Facebook group, which boasts more than 100 members.

But those sympathizers are just whistling Dixie, according to Hays High School Principal David Pierce.

โ€œItโ€™s all rumor,โ€ he said. โ€œItโ€™s all false. I have not tried to change any mascot, nor have I wanted to change the mascot.โ€

Itโ€™s not even up for discussion, Pierce added.

โ€œThereโ€™s not been anyone thatโ€™s approached me about it,โ€ he said. โ€œIโ€™m sure thereโ€™s people out there that donโ€™t like it. Really, that could be said for a lot of mascots.โ€

The mascot has been around almost as long as football coach Bob Shelton, who retired after the end of last season. Shelton had coached at Hays since it opened in 1968, and at Buda High School four years before that.

โ€œAs far as I know, people will take that mascot, and different organizations will do different things with it,โ€ Shelton said. โ€œThe ones we use for athletics, I think he still has guns in his hands.โ€

People have argued that Confederate imagery, including the rebel, is a painful reminder of slavery. At the collegiate level, the University of Mississippiโ€™s mascot, Colonel Reb, was retired in 2003. Last year, Ole Miss replaced him with an anthropomorphic black bear.

About 10 high schools around Texas boast Rebel mascots.

The original Colonel Jack, though, was no rebel. Jack C. Hays, the namesake of Hays High School and Hays County, was a former Texas Ranger who lived in California during the Civil War.

During the fighting, he remained neutral.

Published Feb. 17, 2011, in the Hays Free Press.


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